So Much Art Saturday (Not So Much Sunday)
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Disclaimer: Everything below is a mix of what I observed and heard during the event. The goal isnât to pinpoint "who exactly said what," but to share (usually) an outsider's view and overall perspective on these industries. Iâm not here to act as a definitive firsthand sourceâreaders should do their own research. I hope this inspires you to attend events, explore new industries, and hear what leaders are presenting. These notes combine my observations with thoughts on how things could run smoother and how ideas connect (IMO). Iâm not an expert, you know? Just hanging out in the room with them. Enjoy!Topics: Conspiracy Theories, Ancient Worlds, Amazing AMAZING Breakfast (incredible!), City-Wide Festicals, Art, Walking, Miscommunication Protests, Podcast Filming, Power Dynamics, Miscommunication, Amazing Art, Confusing Art, Questionable Questions, No Clue
I love the city and in the past, I was EXTREMELY anti-social. But lately, now I feel a bit like socializing more, but canât quite figure out where/how. But - duh! Events are great, so I am trying to go to more of them⌠even ones that are a bit more not extremely my style (i love plenty of art! Donât get my wrong, but so far iâve not been too drawn to much that iâve seen here - though the SAM has some cool pieces here and there, for sure - and some throughout the city. Just the more I was learning about all these theories and stories online, some of the art I see rings too similar to all of that⌠and iâm like, oh⌠:( so. And, honestly - sometimes/most times âsocializing just for the sake of socializingâ just isnât even too fun when drinking is involved. I am happier to keep working on my content and goals to create all of these amazing things - including the work on the White House Ai Iniative which Iâm starting onnn (and lots of ai edu in general)
Why Attend: There were a number of events going on this 1.5 days that I wanted to check out⌠first, amazing food was promised at a podcast recording. So why not check that out and fill up! Itâs been a while since I had good food I didnât cook myself. After that, I was going to go on a sorta art-walking-tour of the city. Sounded interesting (with events from morning till night). Finally, the next day I heard of a charity auction event, which - again, I simply wanted to go to for the sake/hope of the world presenting me with like a new friend or cool opportunity or some sorta nice thing, as a âgood job for getting out of the house and not just sitting at home all dayâ. So, I went to that. Wanna hear how it all was? Iâll just describe it in these pictures. AndâŚ. probably thatâd be enough (oh, except Iâd also like to write a BIT about my experience at the podcast. That was really funny/crazy/writeable⌠but also, if i copy/pasted my 100% true notes (like I do sometimes). Idk - that was itâs own DIFFERENT category of drama, hahaha. But, Iâll take it over the other.
Overall Event Reviews: Venue (5/5), Food (4.5/5), Networking (2/5), Speaker Content (3/5), Likeliness to Return (4/5)âŚ.. (more elaborations at the end)
Photo Collage & Commentary:
Iâll put that after my notes.
Notes from the Event(s):
- I took 100 pictures over these two days, and they say plenty and I have plenty to say (and⌠even more Iâm not sure how to say, so⌠for now Iâll just leave it out. Similar to my Menices of Venice blog entry. Iâd vote that one a 5/10 in how much was said vs. unsaid - but, thatâs how it is and thereâs so much to work on). So, there we go. Letâs start, I guess.
I worked with 2 Ai to SUMMARIZE MY NOTES with a narrative retelling:
Arrival & Setup
She (KT) decided to attend an arts/tech/design talk + walk downtown, hoping to connect and take a break from work. On the way, she spotted a man in a full bear costume riding the subway. Though this sight usually unsettled her, today he strangely fit right in. Later, she saw him again at a nearby Disney protest, holding a âboycott Disneyâ sign and chatting with attendees. The protest immediately thrilled herâfinally, she thought, people were speaking openly about how these movies normalize trauma for trafficked children, confuse gender roles, and silence women. She planned to leave the talk to join the protest and blog about it afterward.
The venue was stunningâone of the nicest city buildings, with huge windows framing a view that included old architectural relics hinting at a forgotten past. She stared out at the skyline and thought about how some of the buildings looked like they belonged to a lost civilization: powered by ether, topped with airfields(? ai added that - what iâve seen online is the spires - when there are 2+ theyâre used for ether? or static electrcity, with an ancient tech - part of how all these epic buildings exist from âthe oregon trailâ eyeroll) where planes could land and pause, and marked by balloon-like airships, Hindenberg-style, made of cow skin. These theories reminded her of what circulates âall over Twitter,â but she noted she was currently taking a break from the internet.
Inside, buffet-style food beckoned, and she ate plentyârelishing the first meal she hadnât cooked in a long while. She piled her plate high, enjoying the rare treat of not cooking for herself. (I was so happy for this food hahahah, but also dropped the first thing I picked up right infront of two very well dressed ladies - as was I, dressed to impress myself. It was like a crouissant with meat and veggies inside. But, I felt so bad to waste it, so i brushed it off. Then later complimented a lady on her skirt! and tried to make a joke of it with one lady, but she just rolled her eye and half smiled.)
While looking for a place to settle, she realized there was no convenient spot to charge her laptop. She ended up off to the side, a little isolated, setting her things down. This became important later, when small tensions arose around space and seating.
Event Start & Pace
The host began with a long, scripted introduction, following cue cards and visible countdown timers that meticulously controlled the schedule. Nearly twenty minutes passed before the first guest appeared. Speakers enthusiastically discussed a huge arts festival with over fifty venues, filled with dance, concerts, exhibitions, and film. The tone was celebratory but the pacing dragged.
She noticed small but telling moments: a baby crying, a tech person multitasking at the back, and someone passive-aggressively nudging her belongings aside for a charging spot. These moments punctuated the formal vibe with more raw, human elements.
SPOILER ALERT: This lady was on stage later? And then I ran into her on the street later, too, lol, I was asking for interpreations of their festival map.
The first guest, a woman who curates for a gallery and teaches at several universities, described the scope of the upcoming âArt & Culture Week.â Her segment emphasized how the upcoming soccer competition, the new waterfront, and the cityâs future identity would all feel incomplete without murals and public art. She called the festival âthe most beautiful thing in the world,â highlighting its interdisciplinary scope: dance, concerts, exhibitions, and film all designed to bring people together.
The hostâs countdown cards fascinated herâeach showing exactly how many minutes and seconds a speaker had left. At one point, the guest ran into ânegative ten seconds,â but the host let the segment spill over anyway. The exactness of the system (timers, scripted intros, scheduled sponsors) stood out as both professional and strangely mechanical.
From her seat at the back, she could see the tech guy juggling slides and maybe editing at the same time, though it was hard to tell. The crying baby added another layer of interruption to the otherwise polished, corporate tone.
Yeah! I was surprised that someone brought a baby here, but later found it was someoneâs kid who would speak later. Still⌠but, whatever! I love babies. Theyâre amazing and cute. Hahaha.
Meanwhile, the protest still hovered in her mind. Even as she took in the details of the talk, she kept circling back to her plan: stay just long enough, then leave for the protest.
Content & Distraction
While speakers praised the festivalâs cultural importance and detailed logistics, her mind was mostly on the protest. Video calls introduced remote guests talking about community dance spaces and fighting displacement in Black neighborhoods, but technical problems muddied some messages.
Her anticipation to join the protest grew, and after a glitchy final guest, she left. The protest wasnât what she hopedâit wasnât perfect, and despite the bear-costumed figureâs theatrical presence, it felt better than silence. She didnât fully agree with all the protest points, sensing that even the protesters didnât hold all the answers. But it was a start.
What she had imagined was a protest aimed squarely at Disneyâs storylines and their hidden costs â a reckoning with the darker truths behind the empire. Sheâd heard many times from whistleblowers that âif parents knew what Disney was made for, theyâd revolt.â To her, this meant not just critiques of content but the sense of true crimes against humanity, smuggled in through entertainment. She thought sheâd find that being voiced aloud.
In the event hall, a second guest phoned in from the street to describe a garage turned into a multi-floor dance installation. The idea sounded inventive but also strangeâlike something with âsecret routes,â the kind she used to notice in old N64 racing games. Her skepticism peeked through: it could be innocent, but it could also feel like something else was going on beneath the surface.
At the same time, a strange moment of passive-aggressive theater unfolded. A woman walked across the room, came right up to her spot, and without saying a word, pushed her belongings over on the floor â from where they had been placed to tucked slightly under a chair, âmore out of the way.â The adjustment was tiny, hardly a difference in space, but deliberate enough to signal disapproval, as if tidying up after someone messy. Then the woman simply walked back to where she had been, never sitting there, never acknowledging her. The act served no purpose other than to make a point â pointless correction dressed up as neatness.
When another remote guest began speaking about displacement and community struggles, the audio cut in and out, making the message difficult to follow. The technical issues mirrored her growing impatience.
By now, her focus was almost entirely split. The event rolled forward with its festival promotions and curated enthusiasm, but her energy was fixed on the nearby protest. Eventually, she decided: it was time to leave and see it for herself.
The Protest
Her anticipation to join the protest grew, and after a glitchy final guest, she left. The protest wasnât what she hoped, butit felt better than silence. She didnât fully agree with all the protest points, sensing that even the protesters didnât hold all the answers. But it was a start.
Outside the local news station, about a hundred people had gathered. The crowd was lively, loud, and chaotic. Many wore costumes â some elaborate, some improvised â as if the protest itself were part street theater, part demonstration. Voices rose in repetition: curses shouted over and over, chants demanding the removal of the president, and calls to stop funding certain TV shows. From what she could gather, the protest seemed linked to a controversy over a talk show host getting booted, though she wasnât sure of the details; she hadnât been following the news.
The man in the bear costume, first spotted earlier on the subway, appeared again here, holding a âboycott Disneyâ sign and chatting with attendees. His presence made the protest more surreal, adding to the carnival-like mix of messages and styles.
Though she had imagined a rally that would dig deep into Disneyâs storylines and hidden harms, what she found instead was a more scattered, theatrical gathering. Even so, the energy was undeniable: at least a hundred voices raised in defiance, channeling frustration into sound and spectacle.
Piano & Re-Entry
When she comes back inside, a pianist is mid-performance. The piece is almost comically repetitive: one refrain â âfree like a riverâ â chanted and played over the same chord again and again, about ten times. What feels to her like a missed chance for variety lands completely differently for the crowd: they adore it. When the song ends, they shower the pianist with gratitude and compliments, and she receives it with quiet pride, even in her casual jeans. To the narrator, it feels like proof of how presentation matters â she thinks of her own boycott of pants â but the audience is still captivated.
Meanwhile, the baby who cried earlier is still here. He lets out intermittent cries during this second half of the event, punctuating the overly formal podcast vibe with bursts of raw humanity. Each wail is like an unscripted protest of its own.
Podcast & Sponsors
The formal podcast recording resumes. Sponsors are acknowledged again, one tied to surveys. The tone feels oddly bureaucratic, contrasting with the vulnerable songs and personal stories on stage.
Then comes a revelation: one of the women who had been cold earlier â the same one sheâd dropped a croissant in front of â suddenly appears on stage as a featured speaker. Another, the Indigenous woman whose striking skirt she had admired hours before (and who had only given a brief smile and walked away), also steps into the spotlight later. The dismissiveness from before now clicks into place: these werenât random attendees, they were gearing up to perform. What had felt passive-aggressive earlier now reads as pre-performance focus, but the memory of those small brushes lingers.
The co-host fills the gaps between speakers with her default line â âI love thatâ â after nearly every comment, like a verbal glue holding the structure together. Segments run over time, while in the back rows, attendees shift and fidget, their energy restless.
Indigenous Voices & Salmon Focus
The Indigenous speaker with the unforgettable skirt takes her turn. She pivots to storytelling and representation, speaking about the need to correct harmful narratives and push beyond stereotypes like Pocahontas. Her reflections are raw and heartfelt: she recounts ancestral pain, family members lost to suicide, and the heavy consequences of cultural misrepresentation.
She grounds her talk in personal identity, listing her roles â mother, wife, auntie, sister â while her husband bops gently to music with their baby in his arms, a domestic counterpoint to the weight of her words.
Her message is powerful, though her section runs long, spilling past her allotted time while the host glances nervously at spreadsheets. Then a recurring motif surfaces again: salmon. Multiple speakers tie their cultural and ecological work to salmon conservation. While the passion is clear, she (KT) remains skeptical â why salmon above all others? Why not eagles, or other equally iconic species? (KT) She jokes inwardly that something feels âfishyâ about the imbalance, a pun that highlights her sense that there may be more beneath the surface than anyone is saying.
Awkward Departures & Social Tensions
The strangest turn comes after the Indigenous woman with the unforgettable skirt finishes her segment. She speaks powerfully, earns applause, and then seems a little puzzled â as if unsure whether things are wrapping up. She steps down, gathers her family, and heads toward the exit.
(And I think she, like, tried to hug them goodbye or something but they wouldnât? So then she felt burned?)
The âI love thatâ co-host trails after her, and the two exchange a clipped, almost scripted goodbye before disappearing. It feels oddly unfinished, as if the rhythm of the program had been disrupted mid-beat. Their exit is not just early but final, even though the event keeps stretching on.
(She just hurries off with her husband and the baby?? Felt like whatever happened, she didnât feel well respected? Idk.)
The abruptness is startling. They donât linger, donât stay for the rest of the program, and their early departure leaves the room with a hollow pause. It feels as if the program lost a major thread â yet the organizers, unbothered, barrel forward into an aftershow.
This is like 2.5 hours into filming! So i realize, omg, this is really mult-pruposeful, thsi event. Time for me to eat more and then go.
Compliments & Wrap-Up Song
After her performance, the singer receives a stream of compliments here and there. Attendees stop to tell her how moving she was, and she takes the praise with ease â deservedly so. The energy around her is light and warm, a sharp contrast to the formality of the program.
Later, she returns to the piano to sing one more song to close the main session. Itâs a fitting wrap-up, blending music and community, before the hosts pivot the day into its final phase.
Aftershow Shift
The organizers announce that people now have two options: stay in the room to listen to the âaftershowâ podcast taping or head out to socialize. Many take the latter route, spilling onto the rooftop or mingling casually. Only a handful stay seated for the extended Q&A. The hosts keep filming, but the small remaining crowd is already dispersing, the energy thinning out.
Exit into the City
After sitting through the main session and hearing the aftershow announced, she decides sheâs had enough of the formalities. The choice is clear: leave the flat energy of the recording room behind.
Out on the street, the mood is totally different. A scrappy band has set up in the back of a truck, playing loud, joyful music for hours. The drummer casually smokes a joint in the trailer between songs; then drives off to move them to another station. Strangers even hop in to freestyle, adding to the sense of spontaneity.
Compared to the stiff pacing indoors, this street performance feels alive â messy, unpredictable, and full of connection. For her, it becomes the true highlight of the day.
And the lyrics of their songs sound so much like the messages I try to share, too. I want to go freestyle with them :)
PHOTO COLLAGES & COMMENTARY FOR REAL- i put these into 5 collages for the sake of loading times on phones.
OVERALL EVENT REVIEW ELABORATE:
Venue (5/5), yes⌠all of these places were extremely amazing and/or above adequate for their purposes. I especially liked the building that the podcast was in.. walking all around the city! I mean, duh! Evne the art gallery the next day seemed like it had a lot more going on. A theater and an upstairs, etc. But, I didnât stay long and that wasnât part of it. Also, it was really just extremely fun to walk around with live music and see the city so lively.
Food (4.5/5), The food was outstanding everywhere - but especially teh brunch ââ oh yeah, but no good drinks at the gallery. (though, I also ate food at home some of hte time, too - haha! Yes. Iâm becoming a better chef, thank you so much.)
Networking (1.5/5), eh. Not really. I didnât meet anyone (except one AMAZING girl I met in the elevator and we talked on our way out about the upcoming soccer extravaganza/our dreams of helping the world) - but besides that i didnât make/see any friends - and even saw one guy who i met many years ago but i feel like he always gave me strange vibes and always wanted to invited me to hugging parties (?!) and eventually i just blocked him. An older man. And then i saw him and itâd been many years and he seemed to think he recognized me but I just kept my distance and/or gave him the stink eye. I just feel, looking back, he preyed on vulnerable girls. And all of my instincts kept saying - go away from him. 100% - so, yeah. Even I kept running into him like 3 times downtown at one point while literally walking blocks and blocks to just leave anyway - lol. So i was like, omg. This guy needs to get a life, people!
Speaker Content (3/5): some of this DIY art was truly incredible. Some of the crafting projects were extremely fun and I had the best time. So, yeah walking from station to station around the city and making art - while listening to music along the way and being surprised by live immersive art⌠it was awesome! hahah (and yeah, I used to even be an immersive theater actress in Shanghai, you know! {only once hahaah but it was for a multi-month play, okay? on a boattt! a remake of titanic}). And the Marshall Law Band driving around playing music was extremememememlyllyly amazing! I like their lyrics and I like their mission. It sounds like a lot of my songs. Reminds me of the song I just wrote about making videos with Ai. â- and then obviously other stuff I didnât like.
Also, there wasnât really experiences that I noticed that were specific to kids (not music, art, crafts, performers). I feel like everything was just for adaptable âeveryone/all agesâ and kids are forgotten about!! Iâm like - what the heck? Iâve just been to âthird world countriesâ that do it better than this. I mean, nice cities there (nice enough for a random tourist to stop by, but Iâve seen all sorta of variety)⌠but still⌠I know there are more dogs than babies in this city, but donât we want to have more fun for families? OR not - are they a minority here? Donât we care about inclusion? I think itâs been a bit forgotten.
I didnât notice/care as much till I became a mother. Now I see why parents are so so exhausted, you know? And worn out - especially moms. But, it takes hard work, too. Makes me think of my new song, âWake Up, Lonely Goldilocksâ -> HERE. It takes help, your best work⌠but, never give up and working on improving yourself and your skills. Try to solve your problems.
Likeliness to Return (3.5/5): Well, surprise! I may be moving soon-ish. So, would I come back to Seattle JUST for this? hahha MAYBE. But, maybe if it was this + a fw more other things. Though it was very fun in general⌠but, some room for improvement, Iâd say, too.
Until next time, I wish you the motivation and success to search for opportunities around your area. Search and explore: Who is out there giving talks? There are new things happening all of the time.
Find relatable or interesting topics you like and check them out! Maybe even something hosted at a cool venue, if thereâs no other reason to go. Letâs see what you can learn and discover not too far from home. đ
